Types of Search Engines
Search Engines are World Wide Web sites that
provide catalogs or indexes of the contents of other Web
sites and allow you to search for relevant words or phrases
There are many kinds of
Search Engines. The major categories of search engines are:
Primary
Search Engines scan entire sections of the
World Wide Web and produce their results from databases
of Web page content, automatically created by computers.
Metasearch Engines search,
accumulate and screen the results of multiple Primary Search
Engines (i.e. they are search engines that search search
engines)
Some of these search engines generate their own search results
and others "buy" the search technology and results.
Subject
Guides are like indexes in the back of a
book. They involve human intervention in selecting and organizing
resources, so they cover fewer resources and topics but
provide more focus and guidance
People Search Engines
search for names, addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail
addresses. Some can do "reverse" searches
Business and Services Search
Engines are essentially national yellow
page directories
Employment and Job Search
Engines either (a) provide potential employers
access to resumes of people interested in working for them
or (b) provides prospective employees with information on
job availability
Finance-Oriented Search Engines
facilitate searches for specific information about companies
(officers, annual reports, SEC filings, etc.)
News Search Engines
search newspaper and news web site archives for the selected
information
Image Search Engines
which help you search the WWW for images of all kinds.
Specialized Search Engines
that will search specialized databases, allow you to enter
your search terms in a particularly easy way, look for low
prices on items you are interested in purchasing, and even
give you access to real, live human beings to answer your
questions.